Friday, 15 October 2010

That's Novel new London comic exhibition

THAT’S NOVEL: lifting comics from the page is a new exhibition at londonprintstudio which opens on 22nd October 2010, featuring the work of several artists including Charlie Adlard, Ho Che Anderson, Darryl Cunningham, the late John Hicklenton, the Metaphrog team, Pulp Theatre and many more.

The exhibition surveys today’s innovators in the comics medium with a special emphasis on the British-based cutting edge. Through original and digital artworks, printed books and specially-conceived projects on and off the page, this exhibition gives visitors the chance to discover where comics are going next.

New directions include searingly frank autobiographics about illness and the final exit from John Hicklenton, acute social documentaries, narrative street art, craft-based and 3D storytelling, global manga, a visionary expansion of the zombie genre and sinister secrets within a gutted childhood dolls house.

"The future is graphic," say the organisers. "With continuing acclaim from the worlds of literature, art, cinema and beyond, graphic novels have proved that they are truly innovative, interactive contemporary storytelling experiences through sequential art, with or without additional words. More and more are being adapted successfully to the big and small screen and attracting fresh audiences, from Scott Pilgrim to The Walking Dead."

"Graphic novels, and their related forms of manga from Japan and bandes dessinées from France and Belgium, are liberating the comics medium from the confines of safe conformity and well-worn genres. Now at last it’s possible to realise the full potential of comics through fascinatingly diverse, complex, often provocative narratives, for adults and for all ages."

This exhibition shows the full potential of comics through fascinatingly diverse, complex, often provocative narratives, for adults and for all ages.

londonprintstudio is developing its work with a number of artists working in the comics medium. John Phillips, Director of londonprintstudio said ‘This is a very exciting show. The quality of the images produced in graphic novels is outstanding from an artistic viewpoint. It’s wonderful to work with popular artists who reach out to all kinds of audiences.’

The exhibition is the major element of this year’s Comica, the London International Comics Festival (www.comicafestival.com) and is curated by Paul Gravett.

In addition to these principal artists, a large range of original artworks by other graphic novelists will be on display. Many artists in THAT’S NOVEL will be taking part in a programme of talks, panel discussions, masterclasses and workshops invited guests from Britain and abroad. They will also be collaborating with londonprintstudio to produce special printed works related to their graphic novels for display and sale. As a result, the exhibition is as much about demonstrating and celebrating the processes of making and printing comics in innovative ways, as it is about presenting the finished artworks and their final book forms.

Artists are collaborating with londonprintstudio to produce special printed works related to their graphic novels for display and sale.

The site downthetubes.net, which began publishing in 1999, is edited by John Freeman whose credits include editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, Star Wars Magazine, and Marvel UK titles such as Overkill, Death's Head II, Warheads and others. He's currently editor of the upcoming Strip Magazine for Print Media Productions.

About the Writers:

• Matthew Badham has written features for Judge Dredd: The Megazine, the Forbidden Planet International blog and more

• Jeremy Briggs contributes news, reviews, interviews and historical articles on British comics. He is a guest writer on Steve Holland's UK comics history blog, Bear Alley, and has written for Comics International, TV Zone, Spaceship Away and Omnivistascope.

• David Hailwood has written comic strips for various publications, including TOXIC, Accent UK, Bulletproof and Futurequake. He also writes comedy material for TV, and regularly contributes to the Temple APA (a showcase for UK comic writers and artists).

• Andy Luke is a writer who draws: he's s created the eponymous Andy Luke's Comic Book, Gran, Absence: a comic about epilepsy, Hold the Phones, It's Alex Jones, and graphic novel, The Watch Thief. He's written about comics too, mainly for Bugpowder.com, and has been involved with the Caption comics festival in Oxford. He currently lives in Belfast with a large box of pasta and a 7ft tall cigarette, and can be found online at http://andy-luke.com and http://awriterwhodraws.com

• Ian Wheeler is a freelance writer who also edited the highly-acclaimed British comics fanzine Eagle Flies Again.